Various earth-working implements attached to tractors and other earth-working vehicles require movement in multiple axes. In particular, a dozing attachment, or blade, must be attached to the dozer so that an operator can raise, lower, or tilt the blade for proper angle and pitch configurations. These different configurations are necessary so that the dozing attachment may be positioned relative to the dozer to accomplish any desired landscaping or earth-working effect.
Typically, a push beam assembly and implement lift cylinders mounted on opposed sides of the dozer pivotally secure the dozing attachment to the dozer. Because the hydraulic cylinders experience much of the shifting of the dozing attachments, there have been several prior attempts to suitably mount the hydraulic cylinder to the dozer and the dozing attachment. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,897,833 to Claude M. Frisbee, granted on Aug. 5, 1975 discloses a trunnion mounting for an implement lift cylinder on an earth-working machine. The mounting includes a post with an inner race on a first end, which is rotationally maintained within an outer race of a sidewall of the earth-working machine by a plurality of bearing elements fitting in annular grooves on the inner and outer race. An implement lift cylinder is secured between a pair of mounts and bolted to a second end of the post.
The trunnion mounting discussed above suffers from at least four significant disadvantages. First, the inner and outer races include the annular complementary grooves that must be machined to very tight tolerances. The machining process is expensive, time consuming, and introduces additional manufacturing processes and handling, and thus increases overall manufacturing costs of the machine. Second, the post acting on the bearing elements provides a significant lever arm, which, under heavy loads, may result in increased wear and decreased component life. Third, the trunnion mount must be mounted to a side of the dozer, which may affect an operator's ability to view the area being worked. Fourth, the bearing elements are difficult to service. Well-lubed clean bearings are critical to bearing reliability and life. However, due to the tight machine requirements, disassembly may be difficult without moving the dozer to a maintenance facility with large hydraulic presses capable of separating the post from the bearing. As a result, down time and maintenance cause significant additional costs.
The disclosed implement lift cylinder support is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above.